The Italian-American ex-girlfriend of Mutassim Gaddafi has been fired from her lucrative role as the face of an international telecommunications company for speaking about her passionate love affair with the Libyan dictator’s son.

23-year-old model Vanessa Hessler, who spent much of her childhood in Washington, DC, told Italian magazine Diva e Donna that she had spent four years with Mutassim Gaddafi and that their relationship had been a ‘very beautiful love story.’

The 34-year-old died with his father outside the city of Sirte on October 21, bringing to an end Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year regime.

The blonde model, who was born in Italy, said in the interview: ‘I didn’t have any contact with him since the uprising broke out, but our relationship was one of passion.’

Ms Hessler, who has appeared in campaigns for Georgio Armani, Calvin Klein and L’Oreal and has acted in several Italian TV shows, went on to say that she feels for the people of Libya.

‘We, France and the United Kingdom, financed the rebels but people don’t know what they are doing.

‘The Gaddafi family is not how they are being depicted, they are normal people,’ she told the magazine.